The City of Bismarck is attempting to create a pedestrian path that connects downtown Bismarck to the parks along the riverfront.

It's an ambitious plan, but a 'pop up' route will be in place beginning on Sept. 23. The city announced on Wednesday (Sept. 13) evening, that a grant from AARP will be used to create the 'pop up path.'

The end goal is to have an eventual permanent path that connects downtown to the riverfront. The pop up plan is recommended to see the feasibility of the route.

Between Sept. 23, and Oct. 14, a 'pop up path' which includes new signage, new crosswalks, temporary painted lines, straw bale buffers, traffic cones and other markers will be in place indicating the path's route.

The path will run from the corner of Front Street and 5th to the area of Memorial Highway in Bismarck in front of the State Bank of North Dakota. That road, then of course leads down to the paths that run alongside the river.

There will also be an alternate path that will allow you to move off Memorial Highway, and take Lake Ave to connect to Main Street. That path then circles around the opposite side of the State Bank eventually to the Memorial Highway side.

This map provided by the city likely explains it better.

City of Bismarck

A path connecting downtown Bismarck to the riverfront is definitely needed. Let's just hope with the 'pop up' version of the path being installed at the end of September into October, the weather cooperates enough for people to test it out.